Quotes by Michel de Montaigne

About Michel de Montaigne:

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with serious intellectual insight; his massive volume Essais (translated literally as "Attempts" or "Trials") contains some of the most influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers all over the world, including Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Albert Hirschman, William Hazlitt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Stefan Zweig, Eric Hoffer, Isaac Asimov, and possibly on the later works of William Shakespeare.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A man is not hurt so much by what happens, as by his opinion of what happens.

Michel de Montaigne

The most profound joy has more of gravity than of gaiety in it.

Michel de Montaigne

I listen with attention to the judgment of all men; but so far as I can remember, I have followed none but my own.

Michel de Montaigne

Nul vent ne faict pour celuy qui n'a point de port destiné

Michel de Montaigne

If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much to say, as that he is brave towards God and a coward towards men.

Michel de Montaigne

Writing does not cause misery, it is born of misery.

Michel de Montaigne

I never rebel so much against France as not to regard Paris with a friendly eye; she has had my heart since my childhood.... I love her tenderly, even to her warts and her spots. I am French only by this great city: the glory of France, and one of th...

Michel de Montaigne

Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health.

Michel de Montaigne

The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to live with purpose.

Michel de Montaigne

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to live to yourself.

Michel de Montaigne

Speech belongs half to the speaker, half to the listener.

Michel de Montaigne

There were many terrible things in my life and most of them never happened.

Michel de Montaigne

I speak the truth not so much as I would, but as much as I dare, and I dare a little more as I grow older.

Michel de Montaigne

I put forward formless and unresolved notions, as do those who publish doubtful questions to debate in the schools, not to establish the truth but to seek it.

Michel de Montaigne

The confidence in another man's virtue is no light evidence of a man's own, and God willingly favors such a confidence.

Michel de Montaigne

There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.

Michel de Montaigne

There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom.

Michel de Montaigne

There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.

Michel de Montaigne

Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do.

Michel de Montaigne

Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.

Michel de Montaigne

The strangest, most generous, and proudest of all virtues is true courage.

Michel de Montaigne

Author Bio

  • NameMichel de Montaigne
  • Description(1533-1592) French author, humanistic philosopher, statesman
  • AliasesMichel Eyquem de Montaigne
  • BornFebruary 28, 1533
  • DiedSeptember 13, 1592
  • CountryFrance
  • ProfessionPhilosopher; Writer; Jurist; Essayist; Autobiographer
  • WorksEssays